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Ukraine suffers setbacks in bid to retake parts of strategic city Severodonetsk

Ukrainian troops suffered setbacks after retaking parts of flashpoint eastern city Severodonetsk from Russian forces, local officials said on Monday, as the seesaw battle raged on for the strategically important city.

With Russia bringing the weight of its artillery to bear around Severodonetsk — the largest city in the Luhansk region not under Russian control — more help was promised from abroad.

  • The United Kingdom said it would follow the United States and send long-range missile systems to Ukraine, defying warnings from Russian President Vladimir Putin against supplying Kyiv with advanced weapons.

Thousands of civilians have been killed and millions forced to flee their homes since Putin ordered Russian troops into Ukraine on February 24.

Fighting since April has been concentrated in the east of the country, where Russian forces have made slow but steady advances after being beaten back from other parts of Ukraine, including the capital Kyiv.

“Fighting is very fierce in Severodonetsk,” regional governor Sergiy Gaiday told Ukraine’s 1+1 television. “Our defenders managed to counter-attack and liberate half of the city, but the situation has worsened for us.”

  • Russian forces “are destroying everything with their usual scorched earth tactics” so that “there’s nothing left to defend,” he said.

Gaiday said on Sunday that Kyiv’s troops had “cleared half of Severodonetsk and are moving forward,” after Ukrainian forces earlier appeared on the verge of being driven out of the city.

‘It’s a horror show’

Artillery strikes have intensified on Severodonetsk and the neighboring city Lysychansk, where pensioner Oleksandr Lyakhovets said he had just enough time to save his cat before the flames engulfed his flat after it was hit by a Russian missile.

“They shoot here endlessly… It’s a horror show,” the 67-year-old told AFP.

Lysychansk was among areas visited on Sunday by President Volodymyr Zelensky, who “got himself acquainted with the operational situation on the front line of defense,” the presidency said.

  • In Moscow, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Monday blasted European countries for blocking his plane from traveling to Serbia, saying: “The unthinkable has happened.”

“This was a deprivation of a sovereign state of the right to carry out foreign policy,” Lavrov told an online press conference in Moscow after several of Serbia’s neighbors prevented his plane from passing through their airspace.

Lavrov had been due to hold talks with top officials in Belgrade, one of Moscow’s few remaining allies in Europe since the launch of its military offensive in Ukraine.

  • Serbian daily Vecernje Novosti reported that Bulgaria, Macedonia and Montenegro had refused access to their airspace.

While Serbia has condemned Russia’s military action in Ukraine, it has not joined the European Union in imposing sanctions on Moscow, despite its bid to join the bloc.

UK pledges missiles

Ukraine has asked supporting countries for ever more powerful arms to fend off the Russian attack, and its deputy defense minister stressed on Sunday this support was needed until Moscow was defeated.

The United States last week said it would supply Ukraine with advanced missile systems, the latest in a long list of weaponry sent or pledged to the pro-Western country.

But Putin said long-range missile supplies to Ukraine meant “we will draw the appropriate conclusions and use our arms… to strike targets we haven’t hit before.”

Unveiling the latest UK contribution, Defense Secretary Ben Wallace insisted Ukraine’s Western allies must maintain their weapons deliveries to enable it to win.

The UK defense ministry said London had coordinated closely with Washington over its gift of the multiple-launch rocket systems, known as MLRS.

The M270 launchers, which can strike targets up to 80 kilometers (50 miles) away with precision-guided rockets, will “offer a significant boost in capability for the Ukrainian force,” the ministry added.

Western powers have imposed increasingly stringent sanctions on Russia but divisions have emerged on how to act, particularly on whether to engage in dialogue with Russia.

Russian troops now occupy a fifth of Ukraine’s territory, according to Kyiv, and Moscow has imposed a blockade on its Black Sea ports, sparking fears of a global food crisis.

Ukraine and Russia are among the top wheat exporters in the world. Some 30 percent of the world’s grain exports originate from warring countries.

The United Nations said it was leading intense negotiations with Russia to allow Ukraine’s grain harvest to leave the country.

Source: AFP via TOI

Lavrov Says Countries Blocking His Flight to Serbia Deprive Belgrade of Its Sovereignty

Previously, the minister had to postpone his visit to Serbia, since North Macedonia, Bulgaria, and Montenegro banned his plane plane from flying through their airspace.

Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said during an online press conference on Monday that the Balkan countries trying to hamper his trip to Serbia were depriving the country of its sovereignty.

“A sovereign state has been deprived of its right to pursue foreign policy. Serbia’s international activities in the Russian direction have been blocked”, Lavrov said, calling the decision to ban his flight “unprecedented”.

The minister stated that the Western countries are afraid of the truth, so such moves have become normal for the EU and NATO.

Lavrov added, that Moscow expects even more attacks, lambasting the NATO mentality, noting that the bloc resorts to the lowest means to put additional pressure on Russia.

“Such hypocrisy has already been shown to us many times, including the tragic bombing of Yugoslavia in 1999 by those who believed in their victory in the Cold War and in their right to reshape the world solely according to their will”, he said.

He noted that North Macedonia and Montenegro had been turned into NATO minions, but stressed that retaliatory steps by Moscow won’t be aggravating relations between Russians and the peoples of those nations.

“If the visit of the Russian Foreign Minister is perceived in the West as almost a global-scale threat, then, apparently, things are quite bad”, he stated.

  • The minister also praised the stance of Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, who has refused to engage in anti-Russian activities, despite pressure from the EU. At the same time, Lavrov invited his Serbian counterpart Nikola Selakovic to visit Moscow in the near future.

Lavrov’s trip to Serbia was scheduled for 6-7 June. However, on the eve of his visit, the neighbouring countries (North Macedonia, Bulgaria, and Montenegro) announced that they wouldn’t allow the minister’s plane into their territory.

Source: SPUTNIK NEWS